Semitrailer trucks are utilized throughout the world to transport a variety of goods and materials. Tractors pull the semitrailers in which the goods and materials are loaded. The tractor is typically attached to the semitrailer by means of a fifth wheel on the tractor holding and supporting a kingpin on the semitrailer which permits articulation between the two vehicles.
A semitrailer truck has little difficulty traveling on highways and the wide streets of most cities. However, the narrow roads and streets typically found in residential neighborhoods and remote locations can present problems for the rather large and unmaneuverable semitrailer truck. If the semitrailer truck cannot negotiate a narrow road, the cargo has to be offloaded to a smaller vehicle such as a panel truck to effect delivery to its final destination. This is obviously disadvantageous from a cost standpoint in that two vehicles and two drivers are required to implement the cargo delivery.
The tractor of a semitrailer truck by itself can usually negotiate the narrow roads after the semitrailer is unlocked but the tractor has no cargo carrying capabilities. Tractors have been modified to lift and carry automobile over their cabs by using hydraulic lifts but these lifts are not for ordinary goods. Hydraulic platforms are commonly added to two axle cargo trucks to lift goods from the street to the beds of the trucks such as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,078,676. Similar lift platforms are often seen on semitrailers for the same purpose. However, such lift gates have no use on the tractor of a semitrailer truck because there is no platform on the truck to carry goods after they are lifted.
In view of the above, there exists a need to provide a better way to deliver cargo to a difficult location that is not able to receive a semitrailer truck. It is toward this goal that the inventive concepts of the present invention are directed.